


Second Redemption

by WhimsyNeptune



Series: Second Redemption [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Depressed Regina, F/F, Heavy Angst With A Hopeful Ending (The Sequel Makes Things Better), Jealous Regina Mills, Mainly Regina's POV, Pining, They Love Each Other But Emma's Still Heartbroken
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-13
Updated: 2017-09-15
Packaged: 2018-12-27 12:34:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 23,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12081162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhimsyNeptune/pseuds/WhimsyNeptune
Summary: When Emma comes home early to surprise her wife, she finds her in bed with another. She leaves the town and doesn't look back until a happy announcement forces her to return. Regina is determined to win her wife's love back. Will she be able to get Emma and Henry to forgive her, and take her back?





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I originally posted this on FFNET. I got a lot of amazing comments on this, but there were a few people that were very impatient on there that only wanted to spew hate about the things I hadn't yet explained in this story, but planned to do in awaiting chapters. So please, I ask you to be patient with me, everything is explained and unfolded, you just have to wait, that is part of how I write I want to add mystery along with the angst and fluff. Also, please keep in mind that Regina is extremely depressed throughout this story, she will eventually come around in the last stages of this story and the sequel that I have already completed. I love writing for my fans, but the hatred on FFNET makes me cautious posting this. One final thing, Emma is hurt and heartbroken by what Regina has done so please keep in mind that she has every right to be acting the way she does.

Emma decided to leave the sheriff's station early to surprise her wife. Henry was at school so she and Regina would have all day for just the two of them. Emma picked up some of Regina's favorite flowers and went to Granny's to grab them lunch as well.

"Here you go Sheriff." Ruby smiled. Emma thanked the younger brunette and left.

Emma's car came to a stop when she reached 108 Mifflin Street, the home she shared with the beautiful woman she loved. When Emma walked into their house Regina wasn't anywhere she looked downstairs, so she placed the items on the counter and made her way up to the bedroom she shared with the reformed Evil Queen. Walking into the room, Emma stopped at what she saw before her. Her heart shattered, her wife was in the bed they shared, on top of Robin Hood. When Regina noticed Emma she immediately jumped away, still clothed, but her hair was a mess, and her lipstick had been smeared all over her mouth.

"Emma. Baby, please." Emma looked back and forth between her wife and the man she currently wanted to murder. The tears in her eyes were falling, and she had no way to stop them, she was too broken. "Emma, my angel. Please." Regina was choking back sobs at the hurt expression on her wife's beautiful face. "Baby doll, please say something." Emma didn't know what to say, yet she somehow managed the strength to speak.

"How could you?" Emma whimpered as she was still in the middle of breaking down. "Was I just a game to you?" Emma began to question the reality of everything she had with Regina.

"I'm so sorry, Emma this wasn't supposed to happen." Regina cried. "It's only occurred a few times. When Tinkerbell told me that he was my soulmate, I didn't believe her because I was so in love with you, but I just wanted to find out for sure. I don't love him Emma, but it was exciting. He means nothing to me, Emma, please. Don't leave me. I'm sorry. It'll never happen again." Emma couldn't handle this; she turned and continued walking away. Regina chased after her. She wanted to explain to her wife. She wanted to make her forgive her. The last thing Regina intended was to hurt Emma. She followed the irate, and wounded sheriff outside and stopped her before she got in the car.

"REGINA GET THE FUCK OFF OF ME!" Emma screamed.

Regina winced at the ferocity of Emma's words, but she just needed Emma to listen to her. "Emma, please I'm sorry. I just wanted to see if Tinkerbell was right."

"I thought I could trust you. I thought I could love you without being burned like every other time. I trusted you. I loved you with everything I had. I was faithful to you; I was there to help you through all of your tragedies. I chose you, and I treated you better than any Queen could dream about. I protected you, stood up for you and loved you when our own son had lost faith in you. Yet you do this to me? You knew everything that I've been through and how hard it was for me to open up myself to anyone because of my trust and abandonment issues, but I still gave myself entirely to you. You promised me you would never hurt, or betray me. You lied. Was this just some sick game to you? Did you ever want to be with me, or was this just some ruse so that you wouldn't have to share Henry? Was I just some inconvenience that you felt you had to endure so you wouldn't have to share _**OUR**_ son? Grow the fuck up Regina! You didn't want me. You never even loved me! You don't do this to someone you love. If you did love me, you wouldn't have questioned whether you should have been with Robin or me. You would have just known it was me. Even if you did have some doubt, you would have never hurt me like this and would have come to me and told me how you were feeling. It would have hurt, but I would have understood, and we could have worked it out together, but no. You were a coward, and you were self-destructive like you always have been." Emma's monolog stung Regina with the equivalent pain of being tased with a thousand tasers, and she let go of her wife for a split second. She instantly tried to grab her again, but Emma had already gotten into her car. Regina just stood there numbly as she watched the one person who would have never let her down begin to drive off.

Emma drove to the school and explained the situation to Henry, she told him that whoever he wanted to live with would be all right with her and she would still have Snow White bring him to her on the weekends. When he chose to go with her, she smiled widely. They both got into her yellow VW Beetle and left Storybrooke without an ounce of regret. Emma wouldn't be coming back to Storybrooke anytime soon.

**XXX**

It had been eight years since they both left and Emma had never come home. Henry visited his grandparents and Violet twice a month until they both went off to college at MIT. He and Violet then moved into a little apartment right next to their Boston campus. Her parents would come and visit her off and on, seemingly unaged, which caught the blonde's attention because she wasn't aging at all either. She looked the same as she did eight years ago. Only Henry had aged. Violet, however, did look a little older, but she did not look a day over 19 when she was in fact 24. One day her phone rang, and she looked to see that her 23-year-old son was calling.

"Hey, Henry, What's up?" Emma answered.

"Hey, Mom." Her son began "Listen I proposed to Violet like you and I had planned, and we were hoping you'd be okay if she and I got married in Storybrooke since that's where her family is, and that's where Grandma and Gramps are too."

Emma sighed, ever since they moved back to Boston Henry and Violet had a tough time balancing their families, she couldn't be responsible for them not having their family at their wedding as well. Technically it was her 'wife's' fault… Regina and Emma had never technically gotten a divorce, so she was still, unfortunately "Mrs. Swan-Mills" as she realized this would be the perfect time to serve Regina with divorce papers she smiled. "Sure kid."

There was a moment of silence on the other end, and Emma smirked just imagining the shock on her handsome son's face.

"Really?" Her son asked

Emma chuckled. "Yeah, hon. When are you guys planning the wedding?"

"Next month. The eighth. Was hoping we all could leave next week so we could set everything up. Would that be okay with you? If not we totally understand." Emma sighed. She missed her parents and friends. She shouldn't have to be suffering still after all these years because of the adulterous bitch she married ten years ago. It was time to face the town, and she knew it.

"No, honey. I think it's about time I stop hiding from Regina." Emma said. "I'm not going to let her ruin your wedding for us all." Emma knew that Henry still had some care for the woman. She did raise him for ten years by herself and 5 with her. Emma understood and didn't want to bash his other mother to him, but the brunette still hurt her so badly that sometimes it just slipped. She knew that when Henry went to town, he would once in awhile stop and share a few words with the woman, but he refused to call her mom.

"Mom, it's okay. I will never understand the reason she hurt us and tore our family apart. I understand you don't like her. I don't expect you to. I will never forgive her for ruining my one chance at a family, and hurting you so badly."

Emma smiled at her son's kind words. "I love you kid, now go to class." She chuckled.

"I love you too Ma. Oh! Mom, before I forget."

"Uh oh. What did you do?"

Henry chuckled.

"Professor Decoux wanted me to ask you if you would give a seminar on the works of a Bail Bondsperson sometime?"

Emma chuckled. "Oh did he now? I'm pretty sure he just wants to see my sexy self." Emma said jokingly.

"Ew! Ma! That's gross." Henry laughed "But, yeah he probably just wants to see you. He's got it bad for you Ma."

Emma smirked "Well, Good. Boyfriends are supposed to be that way."

**XXX**

Regina was miserable. Throughout the last eight years, she's tried so many things to take her mind off of the loss of the woman she was still madly in love with, she even stayed with Robin for a few months, but she just didn't feel that way for him. She wasn't attracted to him. All she wanted was Emma. She regretted her mistakes so terribly and wanted to go back in time to change it, but it wouldn't be real. Regina had messed up and ruined her own life, and she was going to have to deal with the consequences no matter how painful they were.

Once the news of Regina's infidelity that caused The Savior and their son to flee the town had spread, the entire village had begun to hate her once again. She couldn't blame them; she hated herself too. She'd ruined her life and everyone else's. The town dethroned her as Mayor, she was forced to move out of her mansion and into Granny's bed and breakfast, but once Ruby talked to Emma and realized that the stories about Regina cheating were true, she kicked her out. She now lives in a studio apartment that she pays five times the value for each month because it was the only place owned by someone who didn't completely hate her… Blue. But even then, she still had an intense dislike for the former Mayor and wanted to show it by charging her 2000 dollars a month for an apartment that was just a big open room with two stove burners on the counter, a mini fridge, a futon, and a small bathroom connected to it. She deserved it, though, she always would. Regina had made bad decision after bad decision, which is what ended up getting her stuck here and she knew it. The brunette woman would never feel anything but remorse for her actions in the past.

Regina missed her son today more than usual, she and Henry talk about once a week, sometimes more depending on if he answers her calls or not. He would call her for her birthday and sometimes he'd stop over when he was in town visiting his grandparents. When she had heard that Henry and Violet were getting married in Storybrooke next month, her heart flipped a little, of course, she was happy for her little boy, but the hope that Emma would accompany them to the wedding was growing effervescent in her mind. She hadn't seen her in 8 years. Not even a recent picture. She missed her more than words could ever possibly describe. The day she got an invitation to the wedding in the mail made her even more hopeful. Now that she knows Henry wanted her to attend the wedding, she is 100 times more likely to see her wife within a month, and she couldn't help but feel both hopeful, and jittery.

**XXX**

Two weeks later there is a knock at the door of her small apartment which startles her because she has never had anyone knock on her door except when she is expecting Blue to come and pick up her rent. It's not rent day, so she feels her heart flutter with a hope that it is her blonde savior. She walks over to the door and opens it with a smile. When she sees who it is her smile falters ever so slightly, but then is brought back to its full glory. It isn't her wife, but it is her son, and she couldn't be happier to see him. "Henry!" She smiles as she pulls him into a tight embrace. "I'm so excited for you!" She squeals.

Henry smiles. "Thanks. Here, my mom said to give this to you." As he hands her a thick manilla envelope, Regina feels a lump in her throat Divorce papers. Her worst nightmare. She knew Emma had wanted nothing to do with her all these years, but they had never talked about divorce. They hadn't spoken at all in the last eight years to be entirely truthful. When Henry saw the frown on his brunette mother's face, he put his hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "You had to know this was coming," He said soothingly. "I'm sorry that it took so long, but you hurt her. Very very badly. You hurt all of us. It's time to move forward."

Regina felt tears fall down her face. "I can't move forward without her in my life." The former Regal admits. "She's got my heart. Always has, and she always will."

Henry frowns. He knew that Regina regretted her past actions, but he also knew that it was too little too late. He just hugged his adoptive mother tightly. It was the most tender moment they had, had since he was 15 and his mothers were still together. "You might not be able to move on, but you have to let her go. For her." Regina nodded in understanding. She understood, but that doesn't mean that she wasn't going to try to change Emma's mind first.

**XXX**

Three days had passed since Regina's son handed her that dreaded Manila envelope. She has yet to see her beautiful wife and hopes that soon she will bump into her on the street. She suddenly heard her phone go off; only two people call her: Her Fairy Landlord and her Handsome son. Since she had paid her rent two weeks ago, she knew that the only person it could be was her son. She felt her lips curve into a smile as she tapped the button that answered her phone.

"Henry." She said lovingly.

"Hey, so I need to talk to you," Henry replied cautiously.

"Well, I assumed that, darling." Regina chuckled. "Why else would you call?"

"Right, well it needs to be in person," Henry said.

Regina was beginning to feel nervous. "O-Okay." She muttered confusedly. "You are worrying me, Henry. I hope everything is alright. Would you like to come over to discuss this recondite matter?"

"No, can you meet me at Granny's in an hour?"

Regina sighed. She hasn't been allowed in the diner for eight years. She thought about using magic to scare them into changing their mind but decided against it knowing that if she did, she would fully lose Henry and even the slightest chance of ever winning back her blonde wife.

"Henry, I can't." She replied ashamedly.

"I already asked Granny. She said she'd allow it since it's for me." He replied proudly.

"I'm not sure that this is a good idea, sweetie," Regina said.

"Please? It's important." He paused. "There's quite a few things this is about."

Regina realized that this might be her opportunity to reconcile and have a mother-son relationship with Henry again. She knew she had broken him, and his dream of having a big happy family with both of his moms. She knew she hurt the boy in ways that she had sworn to herself she never would, but she was determined to somehow make up for that, to prove her worth, to not only Henry, but to Emma as well, and maybe even the rest of the town. Regina knew it was going to be extremely hard. Especially because her step-daughter/mother-in-law was elected Mayor as soon as the Village had begun hating her, and decided to impeach Regina giving her full access to stop her at every twist, turn, and corner along the path to her second redemption.

"Hello?" Henry asked, making sure they hadn't disconnected, which snapped Regina out of her thoughts.

"Yes, Sorry, Henry. I was just thinking." Regina sighed, "I will be there in an hour."

"Awesome! Thank you! We will see you soon." Without delineating who he had included in the 'we' he hung up. Leaving Regina to ponder if she was about to see Emma for the first time in 8 years.

**XXX**

As Regina entered the diner, she looked around searching for Henry's booth. Once she found him sitting with Violet, she sighed defeatedly. _Of course, Emma wouldn't come if she knew I was here._ She thought to herself.

While trying to hide the disappointment caused by the absence of the Savior, she made her way over to her son's booth and sat across from the happy couple. She faked a smile and spoke. "So, what's going on?" She asked.

"Well, I decided to give you the entire update so that there were no surprises," Henry explained. "Violet and I both miss it here in Storybrooke, so does Mom. Violet and I are planning to move back once our final year of college is wrapped up. We will become lawyers in the town and will try to convince Mom to reclaim her reign as Sheriff. Gramps will be willing to go back to being Deputy Sheriff, and we all know that Grams will continue to be Mayor." Regina nodded. The fact that Emma could possibly be moving back made Regina's heart flutter. "The problem is that she has been seeing my Professor for the past year and a half, they're kind of serious, which is probably the reasoning behind her finally serving you with divorce papers." Regina felt her heart tear itself apart. Her mind was going around in circles:

_Emma hates me._

_Emma is no longer mine._

_Emma is in love with someone else._

_I ruined my only chance at being happy._

_Emma will never forgive me for my betrayal._

_Emma is now in love with someone who could give her everything that I denied her._

_I will die alone, unhappy and unloved all because of my asinine choice._

_I lost her._

Regina bit her cheek trying to force the tears to stay back. She heard the door open and shut again but couldn't bring herself to look back until she saw her son's face light up at something behind her. The former Regal turned her head to look over her shoulders. Her heart began doing backflips inside her chest as she saw the one person she'd been dying to see for the last eight years.

It was _her._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know if you enjoyed!


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey, Kid," Emma said with a smile on her face. Regina was so happy that she couldn't control herself, she jumped up and ran to Emma, and tackled her into a hug. "OW! What the hell? Get off of me!" The blonde screamed as she pushed Regina off of her. "REGINA!?" She asked her eyes widened in shock. She clearly wasn't expecting to be tackled by the former Regal and Regina immediately felt foolish, and ashamed. Regina lowered her eyes with a melancholy expression written all over her face.

"I-I'm sorry… I just.. I don't know.. I'm going to go, now." Regina mumbled trying rapidly to speak intelligible sentences. She couldn't look the blonde in the eyes; her guilt was eating her alive all over again. Her regret and self-loathing began seeping through, and she could feel the tears fighting to release themselves. She fought them and willed herself to stay composed. _"You don't get to cry; you don't deserve the relief. You hurt the most loyal, honest, and downright amazing woman alive. You hurt her, and yourself. You don't get to feel bad for yourself. You just get the pain."_ She thought to herself.

Emma looked at her soon-to-be ex-wife and saw something in her eyes that shocked her. _"Is that regret?"_ She asked herself. She quickly shook the thought from her head. _"Who even gives a shit if she regrets it? She can't be trusted, and even if she could, I deserve someone who wouldn't even think about hurting me like that, and that's what I've got. I've got Professor Curtis Decoux. I don't need her. I love Curtis."_ She looked at the woman she once loved and glared. "Whatever, I'm not here for you." She quickly deadpanned. "I'm here to talk to Ruby. So, stay. Talk. Do whatever it is that adulterous bitches like you, do." She then quickly pushed passed and left her wife slouched forward defeatedly while muffling back alligator tears.

Emma didn't want to admit it, but seeing the woman again after all these years hurt her in a way she hadn't expected. The memory of her wife's betrayal came back slapping her in the face everywhere she went in this town because she had fallen in love with her here, in this stupid little magical town that no one could see but the select few that lived in it. The former sheriff hated it, and couldn't wait to get back to Boston. She sat down at the counter and smiled up at her best friend. "Hey, there sexy thang." She joked, Ruby blushed.

"EMMA! I'm so glad you came to visit. I was beginning to think that you never would!" Dorothy said as she came from the kitchen with a huge smile on her face.

Emma chuckled as Dorothy handed her a Hot Chocolate with Whipped Cream and Cinnamon. "Neither did I."

Emma and the Gale-Lucas wives chatted effortlessly for another twenty minutes before Henry came over and asked to speak with his blonde mother privately. Emma excused herself and went to the back of the diner to talk to her son.

"What is it, Henry?" Emma asked furrowing her brows with concern.

"Regina would like to talk to you, and I told her I would ask you so that if you didn't want to you wouldn't rip her throat out." He said.

"Why would she even think for a _second_ that I would want to talk to her?" Emma said, anger gushing through her voice.

"I know you hate her, and you have every right too, and you don't have to talk to her. You never have to talk to her even in passing, but I would at least like you guys to be able to inhabit the same place without world war three breaking out right here in Storybrooke.. Just until after the wedding. Please, Mom? For me?" Henry begged his mother.

Emma sighed. "Fine."

Henry frowned. He knew how much this was hurting his mother and he hated it. He hugged her tightly. "Thank you, Ma. Thank you." He whispered.

Emma felt a single tear fall down her cheek. She just wanted to go home, and forget all about her visit. Even the thought of Henry's wedding was becoming unbearable because it would bring back memories of her and Regina's wedding. "I-I can't talk to her though. Okay? I'm not that strong, maybe when Curtis gets here, but not until then." She whispered with agony rushing through her entire soul. She knew it would be hard, but she hadn't expected it to still hurt this badly after all these years. She had moved on, she was with someone else, but the betrayal will never stop hurting.


	3. Chapter 3

As Henry and Emma came back out to the diner Regina's breath hitched, she was extremely nervous about the outcome of their conversation. She looked at her wife's face and saw her red puffy eyes, and tear stained cheeks, and her heart broke. She caused all of that pain." _How could I be so stupid? I never deserved her anyway. But **GOD** do I miss her." _ She looked in hers son's eyes as he was approaching her and he frowned and shook his head. It felt like her world was shattering around her. She couldn't let her leave without at least trying, she wasn't sure if she'd get another chance before she went back to wherever she came from.

Regina got up and ran to the door that her blonde wife had just exited, she looked around and caught sight of long blonde hair to her right and rand after her. "EMMA!" She yelled with a shaky voice. The beautiful blonde just kept walking away, so Regina ran to catch up to her. Once she reached the blonde she grabbed her arm, but when she did the blonde immediately yanked her arm forcefully out of Regina's grasp and gave Regina such a cold look that it broke Regina's heart.

"WHAT, REGINA!? ARE YOU NOT DONE BREAKING ME?! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!" Emma yelled, tears beginning to fall down her beautifully pale cheeks.

Regina was now crying too. "Emma, please. I- I Lo-"

Emma cut her off the moment she could tell what the Brunette was about to say. "Don't feed me that bullshit. You never loved me. If you had, you'd be with me, in my arms, and we'd be happily married. You wouldn't have cheated, we both would be preparing for Henry's wedding, and helping to pay for his college. Instead, that's all on me. If you had loved me like you say you do, then you would have found some way to find us, to beg us to come back, but instead, you settled for never seeing me again, and monthly visits from the son you claim to be unable to live without."

Regina cringed. She did try to find them, and every time Henry would visit her she would beg him to tell her where he and Emma were staying, but he refused to hurt Emma by also betraying her trust. Regina tried to speak to Emma again, to tell her everything that she had done to try to find her, to tell her about the letters Henry refused to pass on. To tell her everything, but the blonde disappeared in a cloud of white smoke before she could utter another sound

Regina ran into the diner to beg Henry to tell her where the blonde was staying. He told her that she was staying in the loft that the Charmings used to live in before Snow was elected mayor and they moved into her old mansion Regina thanked him for finally giving her information that the blonde may not want to be given out. She then ran out to her car, got in and sped all the way to her little pathetic excuse for an apartment and grabbed the box that she had hidden under her bed; she then ran back outside into her still running car and drove as fast as she possibly could to the loft.

As soon as she made it to the building she immediately ran up the steps and pounded on the door. She pounded, and pounded, and pounded as hard as she could. Until the door opened. She smiled shyly until she saw that there was a tall muscular man that looked extremely similar to the one "Bruno Mars" yet a bit taller and much more muscular. Her heart fell. Regina had no interest in men, she felt a connection with Daniel but she was never attracted to him, so she finally came out as a lesbian right before she and Emma started dating, which was probably another big slap in the face to Emma when she caught her in bed with a man. Although she wasn't attracted to men, she knew damn well that if she were, she'd be all over this man. Which is why she wasn't surprised the man had eased his way into her wife's heart.

"May I help you, ma'am?" She heard his deep voice ask.

"A-are you C-curtis?" She stuttered out trying to hide back the anguish she was feeling in her heart at the moment.

The man nodded. "Are you a friend of Emma's?" He asked quizzically.

Regina frowned, and shook her head no. "I-I'm R-" She was immediately cut off.

"You're her, aren't you?" He asked.

"Sh-she told you?" Regina asked confusedly.

Curtis glared at his girlfriend's ex-lover. "Well, Unlike you, Miss Mills, Emma and I don't lie to people we are in relationships with, nor do we go out on them. Now, unless that box contains divorce papers signed and ready to be filed, we aren't interested in it's contents. You've done more than enough hurt for a lifetime," With that the man looked at her expectantly.

Regina was about to speak until she heard Emma's angelic voice. "Baby, who's at the door?"

Regina's heart sunk at the term of endearment used. Emma used to call her that. She felt the tears she had been fighting back fall uncontrollably as she finally lost her ability to keep her composure, though she stood there unwilling to back down. Emma _had_ to know that she never gave up looking for her. She never gave up hope that she could find her and at least have the blonde back in her life as her friend. She never stopped regretting her choices. She never stopped loving her, and she _never_ stopped fighting to find her.

When the blonde walked to the door and saw the brunette, she froze and glared. "How did you know this is where we were staying? Why are you even here?" Emma asked bluntly.

"I-I'm sorry, I just wanted to give you these." Regina said while handing her the box. When Emma didn't grab it she continued. "I just wanted to tell you everything that happened. I know I'm a horrible bitch. I know that I ruined my only true chance at a happy ending, but I just need you to know that I didn't give up. I hurt myself just as much as I hurt you." Regina choked back.

Emma seemed to be even more infuriated than before at the last sentence. "No, Regina! We were the ones that were hurt! I'm the one who consoled our son to sleep when he could barely breathe through the sobs that he was crying over what _**YOU**_ did! Ruby, is the one who came to me when I didn't think that I would be able to live because of what _**YOU**_ did! Curt, is the one who spent 7 years picking up the pieces of my shattered heart and working ferociously to put it back together after what _**YOU**_ did! Snow and Charming are the ones who lost their Daughter TWICE now because of what _ **YOU**_ did; You've ruined my chance at happiness twice now! I couldn't even bare to stay in the town and see you every day, so I had to leave my family just to be able to contain my sanity! This was the only home I had that I felt wanted, welcomed, and loved in. This is where my _**PARENTS**_ are and you took that from me! **AGAIN!** You stole my heart, and then just threw it around, ripped it up, and then burnt it to a crisp all because you were "curious"! Go fuck yourself, Regina!" Emma realized that she was screaming at her. She then took a deep breath and spoke in a more normal amplification. "I do not want to be married to you any longer, Regina. That is why I ordered up divorce papers, and had Henry give them to you. I want a _divorce,_ so that I can move on with my life. Do you understand?" Regina nodded through her tears. "Good, now, I have to help Violet pick out the wedding toppers, and bridesmaids dresses. I will see you around, possibly. Okay?" Regina nodded as she felt her heart being ripped out of her chest. She appreciated that Emma was at least trying to be civil. She knew how hard this must be for her. It was hard for her too.

Regina collapsed to the floor when the door closed. She began to sob uncontrollably. She had to find a way to get that box to Emma. The only other person that would be able to get Emma to take it was their son, who had in the past refused to do so. She hoped now, more than anything that he would help her.


	4. Chapter 4

As Regina stepped up to the Mayoral Mansion where he was currently staying with his grandparents, she could feel the anxiety flooding through her body. She really hoped that her in-laws weren't home. She knocked loudly so she knew that any current occupants could hear her. As she waited for the door to be answered she couldn't help but feel her heart ache at being here, on _her own_ front porch.. As an unwelcomed visitor.

When the door swung open she froze. _Of course the charmings would both be home_. The two stared at her with icy glares, waiting impatiently to hear what the woman who tore their daughter's heart to shreds wanted from them.

Regina was unnerved for a second before reverting into her Regal-Mayor composure by straightening her posture, and lifting up her chin. "Mayor, Sheriff, is my son here?" She asked with a convincing facade of confidence in her voice.

The couple looked at each other and started laughing as they turned their heads to her. "What son?" Snow asked still laughing.

Regina's facade faltered for a moment but she quickly reprised it. "The son I raised for ten years by myself, and then five years with your daughter." She snarled.

"You mean, the one you illegally 'adopted' when our daughter was forced to give him up for adoption because you forced her into a life which made her miserable, completely incapable of giving him the life that she desperately wanted to give him?" David asked viciously.

Regina's facade crumbled. She never apologized to the Charmings for, once again, ruining their lives by causing them to lose their beloved daughter. She needed to at least try although she knew that if Violet had ever cheated on Henry, she'd want her dead, so she couldn't blame the charmings for hating her. "Snow, Charming… I know I broke your little girl's heart. I know I tore your family apart, again believe me.. I know. But I want to fix this, I want to make Emma and Henry both love me again. I want my family back. I will never stop hating myself for how much pain I put them both through, but I know I've hurt quite a few more people than just Emma and Henry. I hurt not only her, but everyone around her. Because of me, she is afraid to get comfortable, here. SHe thinks that what I did was out of hate, or malice, or because I didn't love her, but I did.. I _**DO**_ love her. I never stopped, what I did was out of stupidity, ignorance, and selfishness. I want nothing more, than to change everything, I want to absorb all the hurt that I caused them both, and suffer it for myself instead of having to watch them so hurt, instead of having to watch Emma walk around emptily. I know she loves her Professor, but she isn't one hundred percent happy, and that's because she's scared. Scared because she is afraid he'll turn out-"

"Like _you_?" Snow sneered.

Regina winced at the pain in her heart as she heard her thoughts being said. She bowed her head in agonizing guilt as she mumbled. "Yes.. Like me."

Snow shook her head and scoffed in disgust before walking deeper into the foyer and yelling up the stairs. "Henry, honey. You have a visitor."

Regina's heart squeezed painfully in her chest at the word 'visitor'. _I'm his MOTHER!_ She thought, but then again.. Maybe Henry didn't see her that way anymore? Maybe she truly isn't his mother anymore. When Henry came to the door he furrowed his brows, but smiled at her anyway. "Hey, what's wrong?" He asked.

"I-I need a favor." Regina frowned at asking her boy for a favor when she did wrong by him in such a big way.

"Okay." He said like it was completely usual for him to help her out.

Regina's heart fluttered and she smiled widely. "Really?" She asked. When he nodded she just smiled brightly. "Thank you Henry! Thank you so much!" She said as she threw her arms around her son in a bear hug.

"You're welcome. What is it you need?" He asked.

"I need you to give this box of letters to Emma for me. Ask her to read them, and tell her that if they don't change anything between us at all, the divorce papers are signed and in my apartment all she has to do is send you to fetch them and I will give them to you so you can give them to her. Please, Henry, make her read them before you come and get them. That's all I ask. I just need her to know that I truly am sorry. I truly do love you both. I truly am incapable of being happy without her. Please. I know you owe me nothing, but please do this I am begging you."

Henry sighed and nodded. "I guess, but if she gets mad at me, I'm saying that you begged me for days to do this, and I just finally caved." He chuckled, and hugged Regina. Regina smiled widely and nodded. She thanked her son and then left.


	5. Chapter 5

  


* * *

Emma was sitting on the couch in her parent's former loft reading a book, but couldn't help but chuckle at hearing Curtis arguing with the Dean of his college from the other room. The man had nothing but hate for the Older Gentleman, but Emma didn't mind him, he was nothing but understanding when she was a few weeks late on paying Henry's tuition last year.

A tap at the door shook her from her thoughts, she furrowed her brows in curiosity about who would be knocking at her door, Henry had a key, and her parents obviously did as well, none of them would feel the need to knock. She opened the door, and chuckled at what she saw, Her son holding a big box, which rendered him unable to grab the doorknob, he must've knocked with his foot or something.

"Jeesh kid, are these the other decorations that you were telling me about last night?" Emma asked.

Henry shook his head as he placed the box on the ground. "No, ma. Please don't be mad at me." He said with what appeared to be genuine worry on his face about his mother's reaction to whatever was in the box.

"Well, no promises, but I will try," Emma said honestly. She refused to make a promise that she couldn't break.

Henry nodded and stared at the floor while wringing his hands together. Whatever this was, was serious. "OH, MY GOD! HENRY? IS THE WEDDING OFF!?" She yelled in concern as she rushed over to her son and enveloped him in a comforting hug.

Henry shook his head vigorously. "No nothing to do with my marriage. Everything to do with yours." He said sheepishly.

Emma immediately let go of her son and retreated to the other side of the living room. Her son's face fell, and his hands began to wring once again. "Is that the damn box that Regina had tried to give me this morning?" She was pissed.

Henry smiled sheepishly. "Well, yeah... She kept begging me... I know I owe her nothing, but I-I don't know.. I took pity on her."

Emma scoffed. She would never have sympathy for that woman again. "You took pity on the woman that destroyed our life twice and broke our hearts. Who destroyed entire villages over a child not being able to keep a secret. Right, well. That's just nifty." She said sarcastically. The former sheriff sighed as she realized she had to calm down, Henry was not the problem, the manipulative woman that she married was, and she needed to apologize to Henry. "I'm-I'm sorry, Henry. I just... I just want to enjoy your big day with you, finalize the divorce, and then go home. This visit is way harder than I expected."

Henry frowned, he knew this would upset his mother immensely and immediately felt sick to his stomach for causing the look of anguish on his Birth Mother's face. This entire situation wasn't fair to her, or to him. He immediately felt anger rise inside of him knowing all too well that this was his Adoptive Mother's fault, but a promise is a promise, and he had to keep it no matter how difficult it was. He learned that from Emma, and he refused to turn his back on his morals, he knew that the blonde would want him too. He took a deep breath and spoke. "She asked me to tell you to read all of these, and if they don't change anything at all between you two, she said that you could just send me over to pick up the divorce papers and you can file them. She just wants you to read these first."

Emma laughed maniacally at the fact that the Brunette had the nerve to ask _anything_ of her. "She's not in _any_ position to be making demands here."

Henry nodded. "I know, but I told her that I'd tell you. That's all I promised. I'm sorry I even did that, Ma. I really didn't think about how it'd make you feel." He lowered his head in guilt until his mother embraced him in a hug that told him he was forgiven.

"It's okay sweetie; she just chose you because she knew that you are too good to pass up on helping someone."

Henry nodded in agreement. "I love you, mom." He said as they pulled away from their hug.

Emma smiled and pinched his cheek. "I love you too, kid." She smiled. Her face then turned serious. "Now where does she live?"

**XXX**

It was now around 10:45 pm. Regina had been fighting with her futon for the past fifty minutes to get it to fold out into her bed so she could finally sleep. She had just about had enough and was going to just sleep on the floor when someone started pounding so hard on her door she was sure it was about to break. She immediately recognized the pounding. She heard it every time Regina had done something to piss Emma off before the Brunette finally told the blonde that she was Jealous of her incompetent pirate and that she would treat her better than he ever could... She broke that promise because that pirate wouldn't have cheated on her, no matter how much she hated Hook, she had to admit, he never would've hurt Emma like that.

Regina was extremely nervous to open the door, so she decided to try to wait out the pounding like she had tried to in the past. The pounding stopped after about fifteen minutes. The former mayor let out a relieved, yet shaky breath and turned back to her futon now more adamant than ever to get the damned thing to work. She started fighting it so hard that she got her finger stuck in it and screamed because it hurt. She yanked her finger out to see the blood and turned around just in time to see the white cloud of smoke dissipate around her wife who had just relocated to her shitty apartment.

Emma looked around the puny studio, and then her eyes focused on the woman before hers. She had an expression on her face that Regina wanted to be able to read so badly, but she couldn't.

"E-Emma?" Was all the former queen could manage to cough out.

"We need to talk, Regina. We need to talk _now_."

Regina gulped and nodded in agreement. "H-henry gave you t-the box I take it?" Emma nodded. Regina's breathing became labored as she began to panic, and then realized that her finger was still bleeding, she needed to take care of that before her crappy apartment officially got blood stains that it surprisingly didn't have already. "O-okay, but can I go and put a band-aid on this real quick?" She asked

Emma furrowed her brows clearly confused, meaning that she had not read a single one of her letters. "Why don't you just heal yourself, Regina? Quit trying to avoid me."

The Older woman sighed. She should've expected that her wife wouldn't take to kindly to being asked to do something by her. She sighed and lowered her head. "You didn't read any of the letters I take it?"

Emma looked confused and shook her head in the negative. "No, that's what I'm here to talk about. You had no right to get Henry involved in our issues; he's already suffered enough because of you." Emma looked furious, but Regina could see the concern in her eyes as she redirected them to the deep gash on her finger. "Just heal yourself, Regina, and then give me the damn papers."

Regina sighed and bowed her head. "I can only meet one of those demands."

Emma glared at her daringly. "You lied about having the divorce papers?! What _the hell?!_ "

Regina could tell that Emma was fighting back the urge to throw against the wall with her magic. She quickly began shaking her head no. "No! No, I have those. I will never lie to you again. About anything, but I can't heal myself, Emma." She once again bowed her head feeling completely vulnerable. Emma could make her disappear, and no one would be the wiser. No one would even care if they were.

Emma walked over to her and grabbed her hand causing Regina to snap her head up to look at Emma with wide eyes. Emma was staring back at her with a cold face, but her _eyes,_ GOD those _eyes,_ showed concern. Regina began to feel her finger be engulfed in white smoke as she continued to stare into the eyes she feared she'd never see again.

When her finger was healed Emma immediately let go of her hand and backed away. She cleared her throat and spoke. "Okay, now where are the papers?"

The brunette nodded and felt her heart once again be destroyed all because of her absolutely asinine choices. She went to her stupid futon bed and grabbed the envelope under it that contained those papers that completely ended her happiness for the rest of eternity. She felt tears stream down her face as she walked over to her wife and handed them to her. Emma nodded in appreciation and was about to relocate herself to the loft when Regina finally found her voice again although it was soft and shaky. "I know you owe me nothing, but could you please just read those letters... someday at least?" With that, the blonde disappeared and Regina was left all alone to fight with the annoying futon once again.


	6. Chapter 6

Emma immediately reappeared in the loft just as Curtis had gotten off the phone with the Dean. He took one look at Emma and quickly ran towards her to comfort her. Emma relaxed into the embrace. "Emma, baby, what's wrong?" He asked soothingly.

At those words Emma had a flashback:

_Emma came into Regina's office with tears streaming down her face. Regina looked up from her paperwork and saw her and immediately rushed to embrace her. "Emma, Baby. What's wrong?" She asked in a loving, and worried tone._

" _M-my parents are trying to replace me." Emma sobbed. "Th-they're trying to have a baby."_

_Emma could feel the brunette stiffen as she sought to control her apparent anger. "Emma. Those two idiots love you, they might be entirely incompetent at showing it at times, but they aren't going to replace you. How could they even try? You're irreplaceable; you're the savior. You're Emma Swan. You're the one that has my heart, so that definitely makes you special. No one in their right minds (not even the Charmings) Could even think about replacing you."_

_At that simple proclamation, Emma felt almost completely back to normal. It sometimes unnerved her how much the brunette's love comforted her. She looked up and smiled at the brunette who seemed to be still concerned, so she leaned up and connected their lips. The butterflies she felt were amazing._

_When they finally pulled away, Regina looked down at Emma with love in her eyes as she smiled lovingly. "I love you, Emma Swan."_

_Emma felt her heart flip in her chest as she smiled back and responded. "I love you too, Regina Mills. More than I've ever loved anyone."_

Emma awoke back to reality when she heard her boyfriend calling her name worriedly. "W-What?" She asked confusedly shaking her head trying to clear her thoughts. "Sorry, I was just thinking. I'm going to go and take a bubble bath; this town is harder to be in than I imagined."

"Okay, Em, I just want to make sure that you're all right."

Emma smiled appreciatively at Curtis. She cared about this man deeply, but she always felt like there was something missing. She was never 100% sure that this was as good as what she wanted, but it's all she could have, right? Maybe. She doesn't know. She's so confused; she's been spending her whole time here trying to convince everyone, including herself that she's over what happened. That she's over Regina, but seeing Regina bleeding, even though it was most definitely not life-threatening made her rethink everything she's been telling herself for the past eight years. She most certainly does not hate Regina. She doesn't think she ever did. She was just blinded by rage and hurt, but one thing is for sure, she is still very furious with the woman.

On her way to the living room, she caught sight of that dreaded box again. Curiosity got the better of her, and she grabbed the box and went to the bathroom. She shut the door and locked it for added privacy before she opened the box and grabbed the first letter.

_Emma,_

_It's only been eight days since you left. I want you to know that I would have done the same thing. I hate myself for hurting you, for breaking up our family. For losing you. For losing our son. I know that I will never be able to make what I did up to you. I will never be able to look you in those beautiful green eyes again without feeling guilty. You how will never understand how undeniably repulsive I feel. I know I hurt you, and I will spend the rest of my days trying to find you, trying to win back your love. I will never be able to sleep restfully without you by my side._

_A lot has happened since the day you left. I was kicked out of Office as Mayor, which inevitably made me lose the Mansion. Contrary to what people believed that Mansion is the 'White House' of Storybrooke per se. Whoever runs the town gets to live in the Mansion. I only made it that way due to not believing the curse would ever be broken. I never expected your mother to find the loophole in the contract, but she did. I am staying in one of those crummy rooms at Granny's B &B until I can figure out something more permanent._

_I am miserable without you, Emma. I miss you, and I love you. Please come back; I'll do anything to make you come back to me, to make you love me again. I'm so sorry. I know what I did was pathetic, and my excuse was horrid. I knew that I could have just talked to you about it, you were right. I didn't even think for one second that I would be happier with him. I am just self-destructive. I knew that I didn't love him. I know that I was heartless and even inconsiderate. Please, Emma. I will never hurt you again. I know how badly I hurt you and it kills me. I wish I could take it all back. I'm so sorry, Emma. I know I never deserved your love, to begin with, but I am asking for you to love me again anyway. I can't be happy without it. I can't be happy without you._

_Forever yours,_

_Regina Swan-Mills_

Emma felt the tears in her eyes, the letter broke her heart, but she had to find the one that explained what happened to make Regina unable to heal herself, so she dug deeper and found one dated on their anniversary.

_My Darling Emma,_

_It's been 4 years and ten months since you left. It's our anniversary today as well. I've written you many notes and tried to get Henry to deliver them to you. He adamantly refuses. I can't blame him though; I honestly can't, because I don't deserve you. I know that, but I am going to find you, Emma. I'm going to find you, and I am going to beg you to come back to me. Because I love you, and I can't live functionally without you. I barely am living without you. The only thing that keeps me alive is the hope that I have that when I find you, I can possibly convince you to love me again. If I lost that faith, I know that I could never live._

_I have a plan to find you. I am going to go to Gold's shop later on today, and I am going to ask him to help me find you because somehow every attempt at a locator spell on both you and our son has been thwarted. I will not rest until I find you. I know this will work, I just know it._

_I'll love you forever,_

_Regina Swan-Mills_

Emma had a strange feeling in her chest as she read the last two lines of that letter. She hurriedly shook it off and grabbed the next letter, knowing that she wasn't far from understanding what had happened to her healing ability.

_My Beautiful Wife,_

_Yesterday I went to Rumplestiltskin's shop just like I said I was going to. I asked him for any possible way to find you. He asked me what I had to offer him in return, and I admitted that I could offer him nothing. He said that I could take a potion to remove my magic so that I would no longer be a threat to him. When I agreed he gave me the potion… I took it, Emma, I took it, and I shouldn't have, I'm so sorry, baby. He beguiled me. I took the potion and he refused to offer me any sort of help. He said it was his reciprocation for everything I had done to Belle._

_I know I deserved to be penalized for that, and for everything else I have done, but I would have accepted any other penalty he could have given me, but not this one. Not being doomed to a life without you._

_I'm so sorry, Emma. I have no idea how I am going to find you again, but I will try my hardest to find you, I'll look up all the Emma Swans in the world, I'm sure that's the name you're going by now. Why would you use our last name when all it would remind you of is my failure to keep my vows?_

_Even if someday I get lucky enough to gain your forgiveness for everything I've put you through I will never forgive myself. I hurt you so many times, for so many years, and then I fell in love with you, gained your trust, love, and loyalty, and hurt you again in the worst way possible. I will never be able to explain how badly it hurts me to know that all the pain you've ever encountered is my fault. I am so very, deeply sorry, and I will never stop apologizing._

_I must go now, I have much to do, first of which is to get internet and a computer so I can start my search for you. I love you with every fiber of my being, and the entirety of my soul. I will write you soon._

_I will never stop searching,_

_Regina Swan-Mills_

Emma could feel the tears streaming down her face. Regina was willing to find her; she never stopped searching for her. The blonde wanted to find her so badly that she was willing to give up her magic just to find her. She needed to talk to Regina, and she needed to speak with Regina now.

She immediately vaporized herself in front of Regina's door, took a deep breath, and knocked.

**XXX**

Regina was lying awake on the floor of her pathetic excuse of an apartment. She had been tossing and turning ever since Emma had left, and she couldn't get that damned futon to fold out. It was too skinny to sleep on comfortably when it folded like a couch. She felt the silent tears fall down her cheeks as she continuously tortured herself by replaying the entire conversation she had with her wife an hour prior.

She laid there silently crying until she heard a tap at her door.

"Who is it?" She called shakily.

"It's me," She heard the familiar voice say.

Regina immediately jumped to her feet and rushed to the door. She opened it to see her wife. She felt her heart thumping in her chest as she began to feel nervous for the conversation that was about to occur. "Would you… maybe.. Want to come in?" She asked.

Emma nodded while staring at her intently with a facial expression that Regina couldn't quite read, which only fueled Regina's nervousness. As Regina moved to the side so that Emma could walk in, she felt her heart fill up with hope once more. The brunette couldn't stop from cursing her brain for setting herself up for heartbreak once more, but Regina would never turn Emma away. She couldn't because Emma was her reason for existing.

"Could I get you anything? Coffee, perhaps? I don't have a machine, but I have instant coffee packets and two burners that can heat the water up in a few minutes." Regina said with embarrassment.

"Why are you still in this town, Regina?" Emma asked not judgmentally, but honestly curious.

"I don't know how to live in this world. Besides, this is where your parents are; I figured that if nothing else you would eventually someday come home for them, or your little brother's graduation." Regina said while staring at the floor. "I couldn't give up that chance."

"Why haven't you bought a house or something? None of this makes sense; it's like you're intentionally making yourself miserable." Emma said bluntly.

"Believe me, not having you is more misery than I can bear, the added discomfort of living here is truly not my doings. I tried to buy houses, even house trailers, but no one would sell to the Evil Queen, not even the loving, doting parents of yours." Regina was fighting back the tears as she spoke now. "It seems as though the only reason I was not being punished for my evil doings in the past was that the Savior loved me, and the Truest Believer believed in, and loved me. Now that neither is true, I will never again be happy."

Emma frowned. "Henry still loves and believes in you. If he didn't, he wouldn't be visiting you or trying to help you whenever he can. I think you know that too."

The seriousness in Emma's voice sent Regina to a flashback:

_Regina was packing up Emma's things and throwing them out the window. Ruby had made a lewd remark to Emma earlier that day, and Emma hadn't told her to back off. Regina was furious._

" _REGINA! STOP IT! YOU'RE BEING RIDICULOUS!" Emma yelled to her girlfriend._

_Regina couldn't help it. She just couldn't picture Emma with another without feeling her heart shatter inside her chest. She knew that Emma had done nothing wrong, she was visibly holding Regina's hand the entire time, and had not reciprocated the flirting in any way, she had paid no mind to it at all._

_Emma scoffed "You know what? is bullshit. I didn't even realize that Ruby was flirting with me, nor did I flirt back or acknowledge it at all. I was too focused on my date with you. I honestly think you're doing this on purpose. So you know what? Fine. I'm sick of this. You do this to me all the time. Lately, every time something little happens, you get all pissy and kick me out. I love you, Regina. I really, really do, but I'm sick of your games. When you want something serious again, come find me, but don't take too long, because I'm not waiting for you anymore."_

_The seriousness in the blonde's voice shook Regina to her core. Emma was breaking up with her. She turned around to apologize to the blonde, but when she did, she was greeted by dissipating white smoke that signaled the blonde had just left._

_A week later Regina was standing outside the Charming's loft. She knew that the two idiots weren't home because Snow had a board meeting at the school, and David was working the night shift at the station, something she purposely scheduled so she was able to do what she was about to do._

_She took a deep breath, pounded on the door, and then knelt down on one knee, holding up the opened ring box to show the blonde the diamond ring._

_When the door opened, and she saw the beautiful blonde look down Regina's breath hitched. Emma's eyes widened, and her hands went to cover her now agape mouth as tears began to glisten her eyes._

_Regina took a deep breath and began to speak. "Emma, I love you with every part of me. I've never been more in love with anyone in my entire life. I've never gotten so upset when another person showed interest in my significant other as I have with you. I can't imagine my life without you. I want to spend the rest of my life proving to you every day that someone can love you without hurting you, and that's what I want to do. I'm sorry it took so long for me to come, but it took them six days to size the ring. So, Emma Swan, would you do me the extraordinary honor of becoming my wife?"_

_Emma smiled while the tears Regina hoped were tears of joy started falling down her face. She nodded and finally spoke. "Yes!" She squealed._

_Regina felt her smile split her face in half as she stood up and put the ring on Emma's fourth finger. She pulled the blonde into a tight hug and whispered. "I will never let you down again."_

Regina immediately awoke from her trance as she felt real tears fall down her face. She then looked back at the blonde who she had let down even after vowing not to. Emma was staring at her expectantly, and she had to think back to the last statement the blonde had said. _'Henry still loves and believes in you. If he didn't, he wouldn't be visiting you or trying to help you whenever he can. I think you know that too.'_

"Yes, he cares for me, but he will never believe in me again," Regina said shamefully.

"Regina, that makes no sense," Emma said earnestly.

Regina sighed as she sat down on that dreaded futon as she does so, she looks up at Emma and sees pleading emerald eyes that she is incapable of denying anything. "He loves me, but not as a mother. Henry doesn't see me like that anymore, he sees me as… I don't know, honestly, but I know he doesn't see me as his mom, and you don't see me as your wife. I've lost everything that's given meaning to my life."

"Are you even listening to yourself?" Emma asked indignantly.

"Yes, Miss Swan. I unfortunately am, and I mean every word of it beca-" Regina was cut off by Emma's next sentence.

"You gave up your magic for me." The blonde said matter-of-factly.

Regina took a few moments to recover from the shock of realizing that Emma had finally read her letters, and was quite terrified of what was about to be discussed. Would Emma think that she was foolish? Would she believe that it was romantic? Would she come back to her? Be her friend? Hate her even more? Would it change anything?

She finally shakes away her worries and spoke. "Yes," She whispered.

Emma gulped loudly enough that Regina heard it. She looked up at the blonde woman and saw what appeared to be desire in her eyes. Regina couldn't help herself; she had to kiss the woman she loved. It's been eight years, and she couldn't take it anymore, she needed it. She started to lean in, and almost connected their lips when Emma moved to prevent the kiss.

Regina looked at her with confusion. Then the realization set in and worry and dread began to take over her. "E-Emma, I'm so sorry. I just- I just forgot for a second, it felt so natural." Regina said.

Emma nodded and waved her hand in dismissal. "It's Okay. Uh.. I guess you and Henry just need to talk. Which I know he's willing to do. Also, don't ever call me 'Miss Swan' again. Anyway, back to the house thing. If they weren't willing to let you buy houses, do they at least allow you to buy groceries?"

Regina sighed and shook her head. "No, Mother Superior does that for me. I give her money to buy everything, and a list of what I need, and then she brings it to me. Then I pay her fifty dollars extra."

Emma stared in what looked like disbelief. "Well, you're going to have to find a more efficient way to live, but until then at least you're saving money on rent." She said. "I mean, how much is this place worth a month? 330 _maximum_?"

Regina frowned. "It's worth 400, but I pay a bit more."

Emma furrowed her brows. "How much is a 'bit'?"

Regina lowered her head once again feeling embarrassed for being swindled so badly. "Uhm.. $1600," She said sheepishly.

Emma's eyes widened, and her eyebrows practically disappeared into her hairline as she yelled in shock. "YOU PAY TWO GRAND FOR THIS SHIT HOLE?!" Emma realized how loudly she was screaming and took a second to collect herself and regulate her volume. "You pay two grand for this little hole in the wall?"

Regina sighed. "If you read all of my letters you would know everything.."

Emma glared at her. Making Regina instantly regret sassing her when Emma was clearly making an effort that she was in no way obligated to make.

After a few minutes of silence Emma finally spoke. "I get that you've had a shitty life since I left Regina, but it's your fault that I left. I heard from Ruby that when Henry and I left, you said I made him choose between us, which is false. I made it very clear to him that no matter who he wanted to stay with we would both still love him and that we both would remain in his life. Which is exactly what happened. He's still infuriated with you for what you did, which obviously I am too, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't still love you, because he does."

Regina took a moment to process everything. She regretted telling Ruby that, but she had been drunk, and it was just the day after it happened, so everything was still raw, and she was pissed, not at Emma, but at herself. Then something clicked. Emma said that just because Henry was mad at her didn't mean that he didn't love her, which meant that Emma could still love her too. Should she dare to hope?

"Do you too?" Regina asked almost inaudibly.

Emma furrowed her brows. "Do I what?"

"Do you still love me too?" She whispered.


	7. Chapter 7

Emma froze. Did Regina really just ask her that? She shook her head to clear her mind. She couldn't deal with this right now.

Regina could tell she had crossed the line and frantically started trying to come up with a way to get back from it when Emma started talking.

"Look, I need to go. I'll uh. See you. Around."

Regina felt her chest tighten.

She had scared Emma away.

As Emma approached the door she turned around and looked at Regina with compassion in her eyes. Something Regina hadn't seen from anyone in almost a decade. Regina felt her heart swell at the sight; she couldn't be happier that it came from Emma.

**XXX**

When Emma closed Regina's door behind her, she leaned against it and let out a shaky breath. She could admit that she was still furious with the Brunette and there was a slight part of her that felt she deserved to be miserable. Which she did, because she made Emma miserable, but in an entirely different way. She deserved to be single, not outcasted and hated by everyone in town. Especially after working so hard for forgiveness after the curse broke.

Her family and best friend had every reason to be mad at the Former Mayor, and she wasn't going to try to convince them otherwise. That was Regina's responsibility, but the rest of the town? They're just doing this because they think it will please Snow White, and they're so blindly loyal they don't realize that they're putting Regina on the brink of a mental breakdown that could possibly even bring her to a suicide attempt. She knew that she was the only one who could stop this idiocy, and she planned wholeheartedly to do so.

The next morning she set out to fulfill her quest.

First, she needed to get Archie to agree to counsel Regina because she is in a major depressive state.

When she went to talk to him, she was marvelously surprised that he put up no resistance at all. Until he started saying that he'd do anything for the _Savior_. It irritated her that everything that Regina had done in the past to earn a place of her own was simply stripped from her as soon as Emma was gone. It was all about her, not Regina and that simple fact infuriated her. She wondered if anything she did ever mattered to anyone, or if they all simply acted as if it did to please her and her family. Were they truly treating Regina like a charity case, just to please the Charmings? The thought boiled Emma's blood, proving that she still did have some care for the woman.

She told Archie that she wanted the town to at least to try to give Regina a chance, not for her or her family, but for Regina herself. The man looked astonished that she would even say such a thing, which once again infuriated her.

"She deserves a second chance in this town; she screwed up with Me, Henry, and my family. Not the village." Emma said frustratedly.

Archie just nodded his head. "Sessions start next Monday. They are regularly $45 a day, but because of the... _Special_ circumstances, I suppose $20 will do." He said kindly.

Emma smiled and handed him a $100 bill. "First five are on me." She said as she turned and walked out.

The second was to get Regina a job; she could tell that money was tight by the way Regina fumbled around the topic. Over the course of 8 years, paying $2000 a month that came to a grand total of $192,000 just in rent. That's not even considering the food she ate, and the utilities that she was no doubt being forced to pay Blue triple the amount for. Which if she rounded the numbers down would cost her about another $90,000 for a course of 8 years.

Regina had managed to give herself a substantial amount of money through the curse. They had talked about it when they were dating, so that they were on the same place about how settled they would be in the future. What she had given herself was about a million dollars. She wanted to be secure, but she didn't want to be completely outrageous, which had surprised the blonde. But that million went by pretty quickly. She had spent over $3,000 on Emma's engagement ring, another $3,000 on her wedding band, and over $200,000 on their wedding.

Emma had begged her for a simple wedding so that they could split the cost between the two of them, and Emma's parents, but Regina insisted on giving Emma everything she dreamed of. She flew the entire town(excluding Rumple and Blue) to Hawaii, and paid for everyone's 5-Star hotel rooms. She rented out a private beach and paid for a very expensive chef that went by the name of Gordon Ramsay to be their caterer. Then for their Honeymoon, she took the two of them on a Private jet to Costa Rica. It was magical. But after they got home they found that the Fairy convent had burned down, and after fighting the town board for funds to rebuild it, Regina finally caved in and paid for the reconstruction out of her own pocket. Which cost around $506,000. She told Gold that he could pay her back over time, but Gold signed the deed over to the fairies the night before the fire, making them all curious about his involvement in the fire. Adding it all up, Regina should have around $6000 meaning that she will only have enough rent for three more months, but that is only if she doesn't pay for any utilities.

Emma knew that asking Ruby to try to convince Granny to give Regina a job would prove to be futile. She knew that the town would accept Regina as a garbage person, but she didn't want to make Regina even more miserable. She knew how Regina loved horses, so she went to the Storybrooke Stables and asked to speak to the manager. He was a burly man that seemed just to have been a farmer in the Enchanted Forest.

Emma asked him to give Regina a job, saying that she never truly got a chance at redemption.

The man shook his head "I suppose you are right, but what about everything she did to everyone else? Should she not be punished? She never had to deal with any consequences for her actions. If it were anyone else they'd have been put in a jail cell and never would get the chance at 'redemption' but because she was the queen she got off with a warning. She suffered no actual punishment for what she's done! She _tortured_ hundreds of people! She _killed_ thousands more! She then forced you into a life of abandonment and kidnapped us all for her supposed 'Happy Ending'! She's a narcissistic, manipulative bitch!"

Emma couldn't stop the rage build within her, but she fought back the urge she had to put the man in a chokehold for saying such vile things about her wif-... Er.. Regina. She didn't like the way the man was talking about Regina. She gritted her teeth and clenched her fist to avoid doing something she would regret. "Please, sir. Just give her a chance. She's loved horses since she was a little girl, so she knows how to do the job. If she doesn't do it well, or you feel she isn't fit for the job after a month, you can fire her, and never look back. Just give her a month, okay? She is a different person now."

The man sighed. "Fine, but I'm not going to keep my damn eyes off of her!" He said.

Emma nodded. "I can't blame you for that, but thank you for at least giving her a chance."

The man waved his hand in dismissal of her thanks. "I've seen the way she treats horses, so guess I can _try_ to be her boss. She starts tomorrow. 5 am. Sharp."

Emma smiled widely. Everything was going perfectly. She thanked the man and left.

The final task was to get a nicer, and cheaper place for Regina to live. She would not be able to afford a $2000 rent payment living off of a stable hand's salary.

She looked through the Newspaper and found a stunning two bedroom, two bathroom ranch style home with 2000 square feet of living space. It was gorgeous, and something she dreamed to live in as a child. It had a beautiful back yard big enough for a lovely garden; she knew that Regina liked to garden. It was shockingly going for only $550 a month.

She texted the owner house and asked to take a tour of the house. She went to the house to wait for the landlord and was surprised to find Killian Jones sitting there on the porch as if he were waiting for someone.

She took a deep breath and prepared for the conversation she was about to have with her former admirer.

She walked up to the man with confidence stopping about three feet away.

"Ah! The Savior returns! Looking for a place to live aye, love?" He asked

Emma shook her head. "No, I'm looking for a place that Regina can afford and is actually healthy to inhabit. I plan to return to Boston as soon as the divorce is final, and Henry's married and on his way to his honeymoon." She said sternly.

She was not here to talk; she was here to tour, make a decision, and then coerce the landlord into renting to Regina.

"The cur hornswoggled on you 'n broke your heart lass, why do her such a noble favor?"

Emma sighed. "I'm not here to talk to you, I'm here to talk to the landlord, why are you even here?"

Hook grinned. "I won this house in a poker game on the jolly roger last week, I can't get much use out of it being out on the water all the time, so I figured someone else could use it."

Emma smiled to herself. This is fantastic. Hook has no concept of the value of money in this land. She can get him to lower the price by making him believe that no one would pay this much for a house 'so small.' OR even get him to sell it to her for.. hmm.. 6 grand? "Well, Hook, it's a pretty small house. No one would pay as much as you're asking. The house itself seems only to be worth a maximum of 6 thousand." She lied. THe house was huge, and it could easily go for at _least_ $80,000.

The pirate in his drunken state seemed not to care much. "Ok, love you got 6000 dollars to give me?" He asked.

Emma smirked. This worked out very, _very_ well.


	8. Chapter 8

It was freezing in that damned apartment. Her stupid heater must've gone out… AGAIN. It was 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and she had no idea when she would be able to get ahold of her magical landlord to see if she could stay in one of the other apartments until it was fixed. Great.

Regina was just about to call it quits and sleep in her now, ancient, and very unreliable Mercedes Benz when there was a loud knock at her door that scared the former mayor. She figured it must be Blue _finally_ responding to her dozens of texts and calls begging her to let her stay in one of the other crummy, apartments. She immediately prepared to open the door and start her tirade of usual pleas, but when she opened the door, she saw her beautiful wife.

Her heart started thudding, and her palms began to sweat, something that hadn't happened since before she admitted her feelings to the blonde, and was trying hard to keep it quiet so that she wouldn't ruin their friendship. She smiled widely as she gestured for the strong woman to come in, not trusting herself to be competent enough to speak coherently just quite yet.

When the blonde sat on her futon-bed, she looked up at her with care and concern in her eyes, effectively making the brunette weak in the knees. "H-hi. Wasn't expecting to see you for a while." Regina admitted sadly.

The blonde patted the futon implying that she wanted the brunette to sit next to her, which Regina immediately did. She'd take any little bit of closeness to Emma that she could get. Emma smiled and pulled out a small box from her pocket. Regina's heart started pounding, hoping that inside the box was Emma's wedding and engagement band that she so desperately wanted to place back on the blonde's finger. She wanted to reclaim her wife more than anything, but she couldn't do that unless her wife allowed her to do so.

"Well, open it already." Emma chuckled.

Regina quickly opened the box and saw a silver key inside it. She didn't understand what was happening. She looked up at Emma with furrowed eyebrows making Emma smile wide. "What is this?" She asked weakly. She had no idea what her wife was up to, but she could certainly tell it was something big.

"It's a house key," Emma said matter-of-factly.

Regina was sure her heart exploded at that very minute. Emma had bought them a house! It's finally all over; she's finally got the love of her life back! "Y-you bought us, a house?"

Emma frowned. "No, I bought _you_ a house." She corrected.

The brunette was confused. What exactly would Emma benefit from buying Regina a house days before their dissolution was finalized and she would be legally free from her forever? "You bought me… a house?" She asked, trying to process what was going on.

Emma nodded. "Yes, because there was no way in hell that I was going to allow you to suffer unjustly." She said that like it explained everything, but it didn't. Not in the least.

"I don't understand, Emma. After everything I've done, why would you help me?" Regina croaked, apparently, her throat had tightened from the tears of guilt she was now fighting to suppress.

Emma sighed. "You hurt me worse than anyone else in the universe could ever hurt me," Emma said. Regina was about to get a knife and end it all right there, but before she could move, Emma continued with her train of thought. "But, you did take care of our son for ten years by yourself, you gave him a life that I never had, and could never have given him even though I desperately wanted to. You may have crushed my soul by what you did eight years ago, but you did make me the happiest I've ever been for the four years prior." Emma added. "I know what it's like to suffer unfairly. I know what it's like to pay for a mistake you so desperately wish you could take back, and every time you try to make up for it, your progress is thwarted by someone reminding you of your past. I'm not saying I forgive you for what you did because I would be lying, but I am saying that I'm not going to let you suffer more than you deserve. I can't take away my family's anger towards you, and I'm not going to try because I am still pissed at you, and they will never forgive you if I haven't, but I am going to help you get your life going again. I know that you're trying to hide your panic about money. I did the math, and you have either six grand or less in your curse bank account, meaning that you have less than three months left to have a home. If that's what you want to call this dump. So, yes. I bought you a house. I got you a job, and I got you some therapy sessions with Dr. Hopper so that you can get out of the depressive state that you're in. I've set everything up; now it's up to you to earn back the respect of the town that you shouldn't have even lost, to begin with."

Regina was crying openly now. How could she ever have betrayed this kind, compassionate, loving, generous woman that sat before her? How could she be so inconsiderate, and selfish? "Th-thank you so much, Emma. I can never thank you enough, and I can never, ever express how much I want to take everything I've done away from you. I love you so much. Thank you. I will pay you back however much it cost you as soon as I can."

Emma smiled at her. A _genuine_ and _stunning_ smile that warmed Regina in ways that she forgot the woman could affect her. All the brunette wanted to do at that moment was kiss the blonde, but she fought herself. She wouldn't do anything to hinder the progress the two of them have just recently made. "You don't have to do that, and you're welcome. Now, come on! Let's go check out your new place."

Regina felt butterflies in her stomach. Something only the beautiful woman before her was ever able to do to her. "You're coming?" Regina asked.

Emma stopped. "Well, yeah… Unless you didn't want me to?" There was palpable sadness in her eyes, something that was definitely not okay with Regina.

Regina smiled a reassuring smile. "Of course I want you to! I just didn't think you'd want to come, is all."

Emma smiled again, which just as before, gave Regina butterflies in her stomach but this time with the bonus of a tingling sensation in her core.

"Of course I want to come, Regina," Emma said like it was evident. "We're starting to become friends, aren't we?"


	9. Chapter 9

Regina was lying in her new, fluffy queen-sized bed in her new and beautiful home. She replayed the events of the day in her head, the way the blonde blindfolded her until the reached the property. The way she smiled brightly at the happy tears that Regina had cried, and the little squeal and skipped in joy. She was intensely grateful for everything she had gained that day, but one thing Emma had said before they went to look at the house, stung her and haunted her thoughts.

" _Of course I want to come, Regina. We're starting to become friends, aren't we?"_

_Friends._

Emma wanted to be friends.

Regina didn't know how to be friends with her. All she wanted to do was kiss the blonde and make love to her like she had before she screwed everything up.

_Friends._

How could they go back to that? Regina couldn't handle seeing the woman every day and pretending like it didn't kill her to see the blonde with someone else. It hurt more now than it had back then, though because now she knew what it was like to kiss those luscious, soft, and plump lips. What it was like to be the cause of her smile every day. What it was like to touch her delicate, and pale skin. She now knew, what it was like to be Emma Swan's and what it was like to for Emma Swan to be yours, and she knew it would be twice as unbearable as it had been when all she had were fantasies. The woman was addictive; she couldn't go back. Not now.

_Friends._

Like they hadn't been in love before. Like they hadn't made love. Like they hadn't raised a child together for five years. Like they hadn't risked their lives for one another over and over again because the thought of not being able to see the other's smile was unfathomable.

_Friends._

Because it was perfectly reasonable to just buy your friend a house.

_Just friends._

She couldn't do this anymore. She needed to tell the blonde how she felt. She didn't care if that meant screwing everything up again. She didn't care if she'd lose her brand new house, and job. She needed Emma to know. She needed Emma to at least consider her as a romantic option again.

She whipped out her phone and went to Emma's contact.

Just before Regina could start typing, the doorbell rang, startling the brunette.

She sighed as she got up. She walked through her house and unlocked the door, confused, and worried as she saw the man standing in front of her.

"Professor Decoux, " She greeted cautiously.

"Miss. Mills." He said with a nod of his head. The man didn't appear to be as confident as before, his shoulders were slumped, and his head was bowed as if he had just been defeated. He wouldn't even look her in the eyes.

"Well, dear, it's still Mrs. Swan-Mills until your girlfriend hands me the official paperwork stating that our marriage is completely over." She said with a smirk. She was already feeling much like her old self now that she had hope.

"I know, that's what I'm worried about." The man said sheepishly. He finally looked up at the brunette, and she saw the anguish, and fear in his eyes.

She knew that look.

That was the look of being afraid you were about to lose the one-and-only: Emma Swan.

She felt horrible for the man, she knew exactly how excruciating that pain was, but she hadn't the slightest idea as to why this subject had anything to do with her. Emma clearly stated she was now just her friend. The reminder shot a pang in her chest, but she refused to let the man in front of him see her misery. "What exactly am I to do about it, Professor? She is the one that filed. Rightly so, might I add." She tried to sound as if it hadn't bothered her, but the agony she heard in her voice was much too obvious to even consider that she might have been successful.

Curtis nodded in agreement. "I know, I know." He said affirmably. "But, that doesn't change the fact that she bought you a flipping house! She got you a job! She bought you furniture, and she got you into counseling because she's scared for you. I-I don't want to lose her, Regi-... Ms. Mills. I can't lose her! I would never hurt her the way you have, yet for some reason, she's distancing herself from me just to spend time with you. I waited seven years to get her to go on a date with me finally. SEVEN years. I helped her through all her troubles with Henry's High School, and college drama. I'm not trying to say that I'm perfect because I'm not, but what I am is madly in love with her. I have been since the day I met her. I knew she was heart broken; I knew she had trust and abandonment issues. I knew that, I accepted it, and I helped her through it all. I waited until I was sure she was ready before I asked her out, and I have been loyal to her. I have been everything she needs, and she has been everything I need just by being herself. She's the light of my world, and she has even finally told me that she loves me, but then we came back here, and she saw you again, and everything has changed. So, please. I'm begging you, don't take her from me, and please don't take someone who is actually _right_ for her away from her. You've hurt her enough. Please, just let us be happy. Just let _her_ be happy" He finished and stared pleadingly into the woman's eyes.

Regina could feel the entire world around her collapsing. He was right; he was good for her. She was good for him. They were happy, and they were in love. She fought back the tears as hard as she could, but she could still feel them falling. She nodded her head assuring the man that she would no longer seek out to contact the blonde or make any efforts to win her back. This was her punishment for all of the evil things she had ever done. Watching the woman who would always have her heart, be happy with someone else.

"Thank you! God, thank you so much. I'll make her as happy as I possibly can, I promise. I'd never hurt her." He said as he surprised the brunette woman before him by hugging her tightly. Regina tensed and refused to embrace the wife-stealer back. When he let go, he took a few large steps back from the woman with wide eyes and started rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "Sorry I… Sorry." He said as he walked off.

When the man left Regina closed the door and leaned against it. She truly had no idea how she was going to survive now that she knew she would never be Emma's wife again.

**XXX**

It had been three weeks since Emma had set Regina up with all the necessities. She had kept checking in with the Stables manager to see how Regina was doing and was oddly satisfied at the Burly man's confession that he was supremely impressed and sufficed by the work of the Brunette, so much so that he put her on the official payroll instead of the 'Temporary Placement' payroll.

Tomorrow was Henry's wedding, and she was scrambling with the finishing touches. She had been trying to ignore the fact the brunette she had done so much for was being as evasive as possible. The brunette would never text/call her first would only respond in short. She didn't want it to bug her. But it did. As soon as the cake had been delivered, and she finished putting the bows on the little bags of birdseed, she got into her 2016 VW Beetle. Her old one had finally given up on her a few years back, but she couldn't shake her love of the car. She turned it over and headed to 222 Smith Avenue, the brunette's new address.

She finally reached the house and ran up to the porch. She knocked on the door to announce her presence. After about 5 minutes of waiting for an answer, she knocked louder. She waited a few more minutes and decided to ring the doorbell. Nothing.

Panic set in.

She went to the garden and picked up the fake rock, opened it, and let the spare key fall into her palm. Quickly running up the porch steps, and unlocking the door.

She ran through the house searching for the brunette. The living room, dining room, and kitchen were all empty. She finally went the first bedroom and found her there curled up in a ball on her bed facing the opposite direction. She saw her body trembling and heard a soft sob. She entered the bedroom cautiously.

"Regina?"

The brunette jumped and turned to face the blonde. "Emma." She whispered.

Emma could see her tear stained cheeks, the pain on her face, the devastation in her eyes, and it hurt her heart. What was going on?

She rushed over to the brunette and scooped her up into a tight embrace. Rocking her gently, and humming softly against her hair. She refused to allow Regina to suffer through whatever this was alone.

Regina melted into the embrace and sighed softly. "Emma." Regina cried. "You're here."

"Of course I am. You know ignoring me doesn't work."

"Why didn't you just stay away?" Regina asked. "You're making this so much harder."

Emma furrowed her brows. "Making what harder?" She murmured against raven hair.

"Letting you be happy," Regina said as though it was the hardest thing ever to say. Which it was for her. Letting Emma go was absolutely the most difficult thing she ever had to do. It was impossible really.

Emma didn't understand. "How are you 'letting me be happy' and how am I 'making it harder'?" She asked.

"Because I have to leave you alone. I have to stay out of your way, or I will ruin everything for you." Regina couldn't handle this, the feeling of being in Emma's arms for the first time in over eight years was just too much. She couldn't stop herself. She had to do it. "Emma, please don't Hate me."

"Hate you fo-"

Before Emma could finish her sentence, Regina pressed her lips to the blonde's but was pushed off.

"Regina, what the hell?" The blonde asked. She was visibly angry, or was that betrayal on her face? Whatever it was broke Regina's, heart. She knew she shouldn't have risked it. "Look, I get that you're having a rough time right now, but you have no right to ignore me for three weeks, and then just kiss me when I'm trying to console you. I want to help you, I really do, but you can't push me away and then kiss me. You can't kiss me at all, actually. I have a boyfriend, and when he hears about this, he's going to be devastated." The blonde froze. She stared into outer space looking mortified.

Regina's heart was beating so rapidly that she was afraid it would run out of power and she would die right there. "W-what?"

"I-" Emma shook her head. "Nothing. Just.. Don't forget to be at the wedding tomorrow. 1:00 PM. Sharp." She then turned to walk away, but Regina couldn't let this go on any further. Emma truly thought that Regina had wanted to avoid her for those three weeks, and she wanted nothing more than to let her know that she was just trying to do what was best for Emma.

"Emma! Wait!" She said as she followed her wife into the dining room.

Emma whipped around expeditiously. "What?" She asked in a monotone.

"I wasn't ignoring you because I wanted to stay away, or because I didn't want to talk to you. I was ignoring you because your boy-toy asked me to back off. He said I was making things hard for your relationship, and that you love him and he loves you. He stated that I needed to back off so you can be happy because I've taken your happiness away from you too many times. I had to, Em. I'm sorry I hurt or worried you, but I couldn't ruin your happiness again, no matter how bad it hurts me to see you with him." She tried to hide the pain in her voice, but she failed, and her voice trembled through the entire

Emma's eyes softened for a quick second, but then anger quickly replaced it and made the brunette gulp. "He and I already had a talk before I set everything up for you. He knew I was going to do this, and you haven't made anything hard at all. He just doesn't like you, and I'm going to kick his ass for hurting you. I also never told him that I loved him. So he's an asshole. I'm sorry he put you through this."

Before Regina could even tell the blonde that she had nothing to apologize for, she had disappeared in a puff of white smoke.

Regina felt weak. Had she just ruined everything? She then quickly went to shut the front door that Emma had so eloquently left open, and saw a yellow bug parked outside. Comforting the brunette a little with a promise that the Savior had to come back at least to retrieve the car.

She went to the kitchen to grab a glass of her Apple Cider and walked to the dining room. She sat down at her brand new, solid oak dining table and began to sip on her drink as she waited to see if the blonde would come back tonight.

About an hour and a half later there was a knock at her door. She immediately jumped up and ran to the door. Once she reached it, she quickly opened it to see her blonde wife standing on her porch.

The blonde took no time in lunging toward her and grabbing her hips, pulling her flush against her and connected their lips.


	10. Chapter 10

Regina immediately kissed the woman back, but something was off. Her lips felt differently than she remembered, and she felt no connection.

She ignored it, making herself believe it was just her nerves, but just as she convinced herself, she heard the broken voice of the woman she loved. Which was confusing, because Regina had her lips in her mouth.

"Regina!? Curtis!? What the hell!?" Emma asked brokenly.

Regina immediately pulled away from the lips she had been kissing. Shocked at who she saw standing before her. It was none other than the man who, three weeks prior, begged her to stay away from him and his relationship. Fury and confusion coursed through her body, but at this moment she was only worried about the broken blonde only ten feet away.

"Emma, please, it's not what it looks like, I swear to you. I would never do this to you again." Regina assured very shakily. "I don't know what's going on. I honestly don't, but I thought I was kissing you. I opened the door, and it was you that was standing there, not this shit bag." She gestured to Curtis.

Emma looked like she was desperately trying to believe her, but Regina could see the uncertainties in her eyes "I want to believe you… to _trust_ you, but I just don't have it in me yet." The former sheriff stated. Regina could see the pain in her eyes. Emma genuinely thought that Curtis was cheating on her with Regina and that Regina was willingly going along. Emma then turned to Curtis. "Oh, by the way, Curtis. I stopped by the loft, and your stuff is all packed. I had planned on leaving your ass anyway, but apparently, you wouldn't have cared." With that, the blonde turned around climbed into her Bug and drove off.

Regina's heart shattered. She had not planned any of this. She truly thought she had finally gotten her second chance with Emma when she had opened that door. She furiously turned to the man who had just morphed into another person, cursing Rumple once more for taking away her magic. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" She screamed.

The man answered confidently. "My name, is Gideon, your majesty, and I have come to destroy you, _and_ your wife's happiness."

Regina was so confused. What the hell could she or Emma have possibly done in the past eight years to make this idiot hate them so much?

"What? Why? Why the hell would you do that to us? Well… Me, I can understand. I'm evil, but Emma? Emma is _good_! She deserves nothing but happiness." Regina stated.

The man sighed. "Yes, yes. Blah blah blah. I understand your confusion, so let me clarify. The residents of the Dark Forest are in desperate need of a happy ending, so I need the most powerful being's happy endings to be deterred at my hand so that I will absorb the power of the author temporarily and be able to write the happy endings for all of my people." He explained.

Regina sighed. "You have no idea what you've just done, do you? I am no longer powerful. Rumpelstiltskin took my power years ago, and even if I still had my magic, he has always been more powerful than I. He is the Dark One who also happens to be the most powerful in all the realms. Emma is the Savior. Emma is the second most powerful in all the realms. I am Regina Mills, the Evil Queen, and I used to be the third most powerful in all the realm, but am no longer. Emma has the potential to take Rumple down because she is the second most powerful, but only if she took him by surprise. I, however, am not Emma's happy ending any longer, so you ruined nothing but my hopes of at least having Emma in my life again. You truly are an incompetent moron." Regina said sternly as she turned to get her keys and search the town for Emma and try to explain everything that had just occurred. She wanted to destroy this man, but she had no magic to do so and was much more concerned about the blonde.

A thought quickly popped into her head, and she turned around briskly. "Who are you? How do you have magic? What did you do to the real Curtis?"

The young man sighed shamefully. "My Name is Gideon; I'm the son of Belle and Rumplestiltskin. I got my powers from my Grandmother, the Black Fairy. I pretended to be Emma and dumped Curtis so that he wouldn't show up unannounced and ruin the whole deal. She was going to anyway." He shrugged.

Regina smiled at the fact that there was no more competition, but right now she wasn't even in the running, Emma was done with her. "First, help me get my wife back in my life, then I'll help you take down Rumple. I loathe that imp."

The younger man nodded. "My father abandoned me because he merely saw me as an inconvenience. I would enjoy nothing more than to destroy his happiness." He said proudly "I know where Emma went, would you like to just transport ourselves there?"

Regina pondered the request. She wished she'd had her powers so she could kick this man's ass for making Emma believe that Regina and Curtis both had betrayed her. The woman looked so broken it reminded her of how badly she had hurt her once before, but this time the woman was suffering over something that hadn't happened. This time it wasn't Regina's fault, it was Gideon's, and if she ever got her magic back, she would most definitely make this man suffer. For now, however, she needed the man to get Emma back, so she temporarily put her anger aside, and agreed."I suppose." She said regally as she gripped his hand in an awkward form of a handshake.

As soon as they grabbed hands, they disappeared in a cloud of black smoke and reappeared at the docks. _This used to be our place._ Regina thought. She felt a little ping of happiness in her heart knowing that this place still meant something to the blonde.

"This way," Gideon said as he directed the former mayor in the direction of the benches.

Regina followed quickly and halted as she saw the blonde on a bench. _Our bench._ She thought. _The bench we had our first kiss on._ She smiled until she took in the blonde's form. She was slumped over, her elbows on her thighs, and her face in her palms. She was trembling from what was most likely her sobs. Regina's heart broke, but she could fix this. She had to.

She quickly yanked Gideon by the wrists and dragged him to the bench that Emma was on. She stopped about 3 yards away just to make sure she didn't invade the former sheriff. "Emma." She whispered so she didn't startle her.

"Please, just go." Emma cried out. "I'm never enough I'm just... Never enough. Not for you, for Curtis, or any of my foster families" She sobbed. "Hell, my own parents weren't even content with me, so they tried and succeeded to make another one. I'm just not enough." Emma cried without looking up. "So please, just go."

Regina wanted nothing more than to scoop up this broken woman and kiss her, but she knew that wouldn't happen. She needed to fix everything first. Make up for her mistakes. Prove to Emma that Regina was trustworthy, and make her wife realize that she was more than enough. Especially for Regina. "Emma, none of that is true. Curtis and I both are in love with you."

Emma snapped up. "Don't continue to lie to me. There's no reason to, anymore. If you both were so in love with me, you two wouldn't be sleeping together behind my back! You wouldn't have cheated on me. None of this would be happening." Emma paused and stared at the man standing next to the brunette. "Who the fuck are you? Another boy toy of my _wife's_?" She growled through the tears.

Regina winced at the way the last word sounded. So cold, and hard. She was just about to speak but was interrupted by Emma continuing to stab her. "I thought that you were a fucking lesbian! You even came out right before you confessed you were in love with me! Then four years later I catch you in bed with a man! Now, you start sleeping with my boyfriend behind my back eight years later?! I am Bi-sexual, if you are too, you could have just told me all those years ago! Maybe then the fact that you cheated on me with a man wouldn't have been such an extra heart-shattering stab!"

Regina could feel the tears streaming down her face now. "Emma! _I am!_ I am a lesbian, and I only love you. I truly do! Archie and I have been talking about what happened all those years ago. We both came to the agreement that I did that to prove to myself that I actually didn't deserve you. To possibly even punish myself. I know it doesn't excuse what I did. I hate myself every day for it. But I'm not stupid enough to make the same mistake twice, and I would never sleep with a man again. Especially not your boyfriend. That would have hurt you too badly. I could never hurt you again. Not even if you started beating me senseless. I know you wouldn't, I'm not saying that that is like you in any way, that's just an example of how incapable of hurting you again I am. Emma, I love you. I always have, and I want to be your wife again. Please, Emma. I know I've given you no reason to trust me again yet, but I swear on my sister's grave that I didn't sleep with Curtis!" Regina finished exasperatedly.

Emma scoffed. "You stayed with Robin for three months after I left! I talked to mom! She told me! So, please explain how you can claim to be a lesbian when you date guys?!"

Regina's heart started pounding. How could she explain to the blonde that she didn't sleep with him again after the night Emma had come home and caught her making out with him on their bed? "Emma… I-"

Emma cut her off by shaking her head vehemently and raising her hand. "No, Regina. I don't want to hear it." She was crying now, and Regina wanted to punch herself in the face for making The Blonde hurt so badly.

"Emma, I love you. I stayed with Robin, so I didn't have to feel alone, I thought that I could somehow fill the huge void you left in my soul with the man, but I couldn't. I swear that on everything I love, and ever have loved, that I never even slept with him after that night. I really didn't."

Emma seemed to give that some consideration but quickly hardened again. "Fine. Even if that's true, why have you been sleeping with my boyfriend behind my back? Haven't you hurt me enough already?" She asked sadly " Also, who's this jackass?" She asked as she gestured to Gideon.

There was no malice in her words. Only sadness and heartache shot through her voice, which hurt Regina much more than malice ever could, she then turned to Gideon. "Please tell her everything. Please, I'm begging you."

He nodded, turned to Emma, and explained.

Once everything was said, Regina told Gideon that Rumple had said after Gideon was born, that he had died in his arms, lying to Belle so that he wouldn't have to deal with raising a child that wasn't Baelfire. He conjured up a fake baby that appeared to be dead and handed it to her while putting Gideon in a basket and abandoning him in the woods.

That information was surely enough to get Belle to leave Rumple for good. Gideon thanked the brunette and left her to speak to her wife.

After what felt like _hours_ of silence between the two women, Regina decided to speak first.

"Emma?" Regina asked nervously.

No response.

"Emma, please. Please stay. Stay here, and give me another chance. I know that there is so much we have to build on and work through. I know that you don't quite trust me yet, and I don't blame you because I haven't done anything to earn it back just yet. We can go to Archie for counseling; we can even stay in separate bedrooms, just please." Regina begged. "Please come home. I can't live without you anymore."

"It's too late," Emma said as she took papers out of her pocket. "I hadn't even mailed the divorce papers in yet, but Curtis did behind my back I guess. I came to the loft to confront, and dump Curtis over what he said to you, and found the envelope on the table. We're no longer married."

Regina suddenly found breathing to become very difficult. Was Emma saying that there was no chance for them now? "W-were you going to give us another ch-chance?" She asked.

"Well, I came by to tell you about the divorce, and just let the conversation go from there. I hadn't planned on anything, and when I saw you kissing what I thought was Curtis, I felt so heartbroken, betrayed, and.. And…" Emma trailed off, peaking Regina's interest.

"And, what? Emma? What were you going to say?" She asked gently, taking a step closer. When the blonde didn't tell her to stop or make any effort to put more space between them, Regina gained more confidence and cleared the distance between them by sitting on the bench next to the blonde, leaving a little gap so that Emma didn't feel invaded. "You can tell me, Emma."

"And jealous." Emma finished.

Regina felt like she had just swallowed a cement brick. _Of course._ Regina thought. _Emma did love Curtis, that's why she is so upset right now._

"I see," Regina said, not even bothering to mask how distraught she was. "Professor Decoux is a very lucky man. Believe me; I know how amazing it feels to be in his shoes." Regina admitted sadly.

Emma looked at her with her forehead furrowed in confusion. "What?"

Regina tried to gulp down the lump in her throat before speaking. "I know what it's like to have the love I feel for you be reciprocated. He's a lucky man." Regina said.

Emma shook her head. "No, Gina, I wasn't jealous of you. I was jealous of _him._ " She clarified.

Regina felt her heart start beating faster; her head began to spin as a smile threatened to grace her face. She didn't dare hope just quite yet. "Y-You mean you l-love me?" She asked hopefully.

Emma smiled a tender, yet weak smile. "If I didn't I wouldn't be so hurt about everything, Regina." She said. "I tried to convince myself that I hated you for what you did. I tried to convince myself that I was happy with Curtis. But I couldn't. I don't hate you, Regina. I love you. I wasn't happy with Curtis; I was content. I came here, and I tried to hate you, but then we started talking, and I read your letters, and I realized that you still loved me, that you actually regretted what you did. Seeing you so broken, so hated for no reason, and then realizing you were about to become homeless, that broke me. I was still furious with you, but I couldn't let you suffer the way that you were. I had to fix things; I had to give you a chance to earn back your good name because I couldn't just give it back to you. I'm the Savior, and I could help push them, but I couldn't completely tell them to love you because then it'd just be for me, and not for you. So, yes, Regina I love you. I always will, but we aren't married anymore, and we aren't at a healthy place to go to the courthouse and celebrate our love, I can't even trust you, yet. Then there's the slight fact that Henry is in college all the way in Boston, so I have to go back. I don't really see a way for us to try to work on things, or be together."

Regina's heart soared at the fact that her love was reciprocated. There was no way in hell that she was going to let the blonde go again. "I can find a place in Boston, and I can get a job so I can afford it, then when Henry, and Violet graduate in three months we can all come back to Storybrooke since they are planning on it anyway." She said confidently.

Emma furrowed her brows. "Henry and Violet never said anything about wanting to move back to Storybrooke, they both had job offers at multiple High-Class law firms in the city, why would they want to come back to Storybrooke where there is literally no need for lawyers?" Emma asked suspiciously.

Regina raised a brow in thought. "We've been parent-trapped." She said

They both laughed in sync for the first time in almost nine years.

Emma caught her breath and spoke. "I think, that if you can wait three months, I'll come home, move into my parent's old loft, and we can… start slow. Rebuild our friendship and trust, then go from there, how does that sound?"

Regina felt like she was in heaven. She nodded anxiously. "I've waited over eight years; I can wait three more months," She said.

Emma nodded appreciatively. "Then it's settled," she said with a smile. "We wait, and then work our hearts out."


	11. Chapter 11

Henry's wedding ceremony went perfectly. The dress was gorgeous, the tux was pristine, the vows were beautiful, the church was elegant, and the couple was stunning. The reception wasn't any less magnificent.

That's where they all were now. Regina was sitting at her table watching the entire town enjoy the festivities. Snow with her obnoxious flower clad dress was slow dancing with her idiot husband in his spiffy three-piece tuxedo. They seemed to be lost in each other's eyes. Ruby and Dorothy, were also dancing together but were much more inappropriate with the way they were showing their love. Not surprising.

Then she saw Emma, slow dancing with... _NO!_ She screamed internally.

_WHY IS SHE EVEN HERE!?_

Elsa, the stupidly beautiful, absurdly smart, exceedingly funny, and abundantly kind Queen of Arendelle. She was everything that Emma deserved, and the woman has been in love with Emma since she first met her.

Regina squeezed the glass she had been sipping on so hard that she was surprised it hadn't broken and sliced her hand in half yet. The jealousy she was feeling was killing her. Regina knew that she had no right to be jealous. They had agreed that they would work on their friendship and trust. They hadn't promised to work on a relationship, Emma made it very clear that they had to learn to be friends again before they could work on anything else. She remembered her saying " _Sometimes love just isn't enough, and sometimes it is. Either way, you have to be able to be friends before you can be lovers,"_ and the blonde was right. They would work on their friendship as soon as Emma got back, and Regina would work her ass off to get her to finally take her back.

She continued watching Elsa and Emma dance together to song, after song. She was sure that if looks could kill, Elsa would be keeled over dead on the floor because of Regina's glare. Suddenly a hand on her shoulder spooked Regina out of her hatred-induced haze. As she looked up, she saw her handsome son standing over her side. "Go dance with her." He crooned.

Regina shook her head. "No. I can't, Henry." She said sadly.

Henry's brows furrowed as he looked down at Regina with confusion. "Why not?" He asked.

Regina sighed. "We're not friends yet. Even if we were friends, it's still kind of weird to ask your ex-wife to slow dance, especially when she's dancing with her admirer."

Henry chuckled. "If you don't try you'll never know."

Regina sighed and shook her head no. "She loves me, Henry, she admitted it, but I don't think she's interested in a relationship with me any longer. She said we could work on our friendship, and at first, I saw it as hope. Now I just see it as being friend zoned. The divorce is final. She's free of me, and now she's moving on." She admits sadly.

Henry frowns at the look on his mother's face. "You were friends when you fell in love," He says pointedly before walking away.

Regina sits there and ponders on her son's words. It was true, Regina had thought she'd be stuck being Emma's friend and nothing else for the rest of her life, and then one day when she got the courage to finally speak to Emma, they were planning a date, and a month later they were in a relationship. Emma was extending an olive branch of hope to her, because with them... Friends can lead to a heck of a lot more.

She looked back over at the two blondes dancing and saw Emma laugh at something Elsa said. Once the song ended Emma stepped away from the Ice Queen, and walked over to the punch bowl.

" _This is my chance."_ The brunette thought. She set her cup down harshly after chugging the last remnants of punch and strode over to her ex-wife. When the blonde turned around and saw Regina, she smiled.

"Hey, the ceremony was gorgeous, wasn't it? I can't believe our little boy is married now!" She says amazed.

Regina nodded briskly and smiled a tight smile. She swallowed the lump in her throat and finally blurted out her question. "Wouldyouliketodancewithme?" She asks at lightning speed.

Emma chuckled. "I have absolutely no idea what you just said."

Regina can hear her heart pounding in her ears. She gets ready to ask her question slower when the dreaded Blonde Queen comes back to Emma's side like a lovesick puppy dog. "Hey, Ems." She smiles brightly. "After the reception would you like to go get drinks with my sister and me?" She asks while entwining her arm with Emma's.

Regina can feel her chest tightening. _This can't be happening!_ She thought to herself. _She's stealing her from me right in front of my face! This is my worst nightmare._

Emma shakes her head. "No, Sorry Ell, I've got to start packing, but when you come up to visit me in Boston next week, we can for sure. Maybe Regina would like to go with you though? She definitely needs some friends!" She says looking at Regina with _that_ smile. The smile that can turn her insides to mush. The smile that makes her weak at the knees. The smile that can make Regina agree to _anything_ no matter how badly she doesn't want to. She can't say no to Emma even without that smile. But _dear god_ that smile could make her agree to cut off all of her hair, burn her house down, and live in a tent. That smile is _magical_.

"Uh, yeah! Sure. Of course." Regina smiles.

The Queen looks at the Former Queen and smiles. "Awesome! You can give me some pointers." She laughs. "Tonight will be awesome." She then turns back to Emma. "Save me another dance or two, please. I promised my sister I would dance with her, but I promise I'll be back." She says with a wink and with that, she leaves.

Regina musters up the courage to ask Emma again when she was once again interrupted. This time by a filthy, and _drunken_ pirate. "Aye, love what do you say you give me a dance?" He slurs.

"No," Emma says bluntly."You're drunk, and you stink. I bought your house because it was nice, not because I have any interest in you."

Killian just laughs. "You stole that house right from under my nose, lass. But I let ya."

Emma laughs. "After everything you've done, you're lucky I didn't punch you in the process."

Killian huffs and walks away.

Emma then turns her full attention back to the brunette. "I'm so sorry, Regina. I think we're clear now." She chuckles. "What was it that you said?" She asks kindly.

Regina starts to tremble. She's not been this nervous since the night she proposed. "I-I-I was wondering i-if you'd like to dance….. With me." She looks down in embarrassment waiting for rejection when she feels a familiar hand grab her bicep gently and pull her toward the dance floor.

Regina looks up at the blonde who was now leading her in a waltz. "Y-you're dancing with me." She says.

Emma furrows her brows, and then spins Regina, before placing her hand back on her hip. "Wasn't that what you asked?" She asks.

"Y-yes, but I-I didn't think you'd…" She trails off

Emma finishes her thought. "You didn't think I'd say yes."

Regina nods. "Right."

"Well, I didn't say yes, I just took you to the dance floor." Emma chuckles. "So you're partially right."

Regina laughs. She missed Emma's humor more than she realized.

"Oh, you think that's funny?" Emma asks wiggling her eyebrows.

Regina laughed harder. She's falling even more in love with this woman.

The song ends, and they stayed dancing together for a few more moments in the silence until they heard the next song. _Their song_. 'She Keeps Me Warm' by Mary Lambert starts sounding through the speakers, and the immediately let go of each other. They stand there looking awkwardly at each other until Elsa comes up to Emma with hopeful eyes. "Would you like to dance, my Princess?" She asks flirtatiously.

Emma laughs awkwardly and shakes her head. "I think I'm going to sit this one out, actually." She then looks back at Regina and gives a half smile.

Elsa gives her a pouty. "Okay, Princess, but you still have a dance or two reserved for me, right?"

Emma smiles genuinely at that, making Regina's gut twist. Emma likes dancing with Elsa. "Of course, Ell." the blonde says as she gently grabs her shoulder. Something Emma did to Regina when they were _'friends'_. Regina starts to feel nauseous until Elsa walks away, and Emma is standing right in front of her again, looking at her concerned. "Are you okay, Gina? You look sick."

Regina nodded. "Yes, I am quite alright, dear." She says as Regally as possible. "I just am not used to eating fish, so it is getting to me." She lies.

Emma frowns. "You're lying. What's actually wrong?"

Regina sighs. "Nothing that should have you concerned, dear. I promise." She says as she lowers her head to look at her four-inch stilettos.

Emma nods. "As long as you aren't hurt, or sick I'll let it slide." She says rubbing her shoulder.

Regina's breath hitched at the contact but refused to let the blonde see it. "I'm going to grab some punch, would you like any?"

Emma shakes her head. "Nah. I'm good, thank you though." She says.

Regina nodded once to show acceptance of the gratitude and walked off the dance floor to the punch bowl, where she was intercepted by Snow White.

"Hello, Mayor," Regina says regally.

Snow White glares at her. "I see what you're trying to do here, Regina. I'm not about to let it happen!" She says with hatred pouring through her voice. "You either stay away from our daughter willingly, or I force you to. Either way, Emma, and Elsa are going to be together. Look at them" She says as she gestures to the two women slow dancing much closer than Regina and Emma had danced. "I remember when you two were together and Elsa first showed up, and you were extremely jealous. You were jealous because you knew Elsa could give Emma everything you couldn' knew she'd be happier with Elsa, but you couldn't find it in you to just let her go. Well, now she has another chance at happiness. Let her have it!" Snow says fiercely.

Regina could feel the tears streaming down her face. Snow was right.

Just as Snow walked away she felt a hand on her shoulder she looked up to see her son, once again. "Ignore her. You and Mom could be happy again as long as you work at it. Mom may have a crush on Elsa, I don't know, but she loves you, and she bought you a house. You still have a chance no matter how she feels for Elsa."

Regina shook her head. "I hurt her too badly. I ruined it, and now that the Charmings brought Elsa to Storybrooke, I have no chance. I did if she hadn't come."

Henry's face turns from understanding to anger in less than a millisecond. "What happened to the Mayor of Storybrooke that never gave up, always looked for ways to get what she wanted, and refused to give up on the people she loves? I miss her. I miss the woman who refused to hurt her family, the woman who was always sure she could be better than her past, and always made up for her mistakes every day. I miss that woman. I miss my _mom_."

Regina's eyes widened, she felt emboldened by her son's words. She was ecstatic that her son was refusing to call her mom because she wasn't being herself, instead of because he didn't love her. She nodded and spoke. "I'll fight for her, but the odds aren't in my favor. I won't give up until she's married either me or…" She fought back a sob at the very real possibility of her next statement. "Or, Elsa." She choked.

Henry smiled again. "You'll win her back, and you'll make her happy again, just like she'll make you happy again."

Regina smiled and thanked her son. She then glanced at the dance floor to see Emma walking off. The blonde shared a few words with their son, hugged him tightly, and walked out of the door. Regina frowned and followed her out. She saw the former sheriff walking towards the parking lot. She hurried after her and caught up with her. "Emma!" She yelled to get her ex-wife's attention.

Emma turned around to face her with a confused look on her face. "Is everything alright?" She asks.

Regina nods. "I-" She pauses to try and figure out why she followed her. "I just wanted to thank you for getting the Queen of Arendelle to include me." She lies. "I definitely could use friends."

Emma smiles. "No problem. Elsa's the best. I think you'll like her."

"Not as much as you do, though." Regina murmurs under her breath so that Emma wouldn't hear her.

"Did you say something?" Emma asks.

"No, nothing," Regina says nervously. "Anyway, when are you leaving?"

"Oh, around noon tomorrow. Ruby insisted that she and Dorothy will clean up and that I needed a break." Emma chuckles.

Regina feels the dread coursing through her. "Maybe, I could come visit?" She asks hopefully.

Emma looks at Regina in thought. "Yeah, maybe, but you'd have to clear it with your boss, and I have high doubts he's going to be giving you a break until the dressage season is over which is in, what? Four months?" She asks seriously.

Regina sighs and nods her head in the affirmative. "Unfortunately." She says sadly.

Emma walks up to Regina and gives her a hug. "Hey, no worries! We'll keep in touch, you've got my number, I have yours. I promise to at least text you every few days." She says comfortingly.

Regina melts into the embrace. She wishes more than anything that this could be permanent again. "Will you at least stop by the house in the morning and say goodbye to me?" She asks.

Emma chuckles. "Won't you be at the stables?"

Regina realizes that that is exactly where she will be and huffs in annoyance. "I suppose that you wouldn't be willing to stop by the stables to say goodbye due to your hate for horses?"

Emma shows a bit of confusion on her face. "I was just making sure I knew where you were going to be so I could go to the right place and say goodbye." She says stunned "Geesh, Gina. What's crawled up your butt?" She asks.

Regina instantly regrets her outburst. It was her jealousy getting the better of her again. "I-I'm sorry, this wedding just reminds me of what we used to have together, and it's very hard for me." She admits.

Emma wraps her arms around her ex-wife again. "I know. I feel the same way. Too many memories. It's why I'm leaving the party so early. I can't handle it. I explained it to Henry and then left." She says

Regina nods. "I might leave soon too." She admits.

"Well, Let Elsa and Anna know so that they can get ready," Emma says cheerfully. "I'll see you tomorrow before I leave."

Regina receives another hug from the former sheriff before the blonde gets in her Beetle, and drives away.

**XXX**

She's been at Æsop's Tables for the past three hours with the Arendelle royalty, and all they've been talking about is some magical snowman named Olaf. She's thoroughly grateful that they haven't been talking about Emma. That is until Anna decides to head back to her room at Granny's and leaves Regina all alone with Elsa.

"Oh my goodness!" Elsa squeals. "I'm so glad I've finally got you alone! I need to know _everything_!"

Regina looks at her with such confusion that Elsa expounds what she means. "Tell me everything I need to know about how to woo the one and only Emma Swan!" She says cheerfully.

Regina feels her heart fall through the floor. This woman _is_ interested in her wife..er.. _Ex_ -wife. "Wh-what?" She asks trying to hide her horror. If Elsa starts wooing Emma, there is absolutely no hope for Regina.

Elsa's eyes go wide. "You're still in love with her." She says. "Oh my gosh!" She says. Then her wide eyes go from shocked to determination. "I had fun with you tonight, Regina. You're really cool, but I'm not backing down. I love her. I will not rest until she loves me too." She declares.

Regina couldn't take this. She knew that she was done for. She set down her money to pay for her drinks and walks out the door without another word.

**XXX**

It was around 11:30 am the next morning, and Regina was cleaning out a stall when she hears the barn door open and shut. She thought nothing of it, assuming it was one of the riders coming back to get some more gear until she heard Emma's voice.

"So what exactly happened last night? I heard that you and Elsa ended things on a sour note." She asks standing against the door frame to the stall.

Regina sighs. "She just said some things that I didn't like so I left. It was no big deal."

"Mmhmm" Emma hums in disbelief. "What actually happened?"

"Nothing that you should worry about. I'm sure everything will be okay between us the next time she and I see each other." Regina deadpans.

"Fine," Emma says not wanting to push the brunette. "Anyway, besides that did you have fun?"

"Mmm," Regina hums in the affirmative. "It was an experience I'm not yet used to. An enjoyable one, nonetheless. Although they do talk an awful lot about Snowmen."

Emma laughs. "It's just one snowman, Gina. His name is Olaf, and he is a very lovable little guy."

Regina smiles at the sound of Emma's laugh. "So I've heard." She says.

Emma chuckles and shakes her head. "Anyway, I'm gonna get going. I'll text you when I get back, okay?" She asks.

Regina's smile falters, but she forces it in place as she nods. "Do be safe, dear. I am quite terrified of losing you."

Emma smiles. Hugs the brunette, and walks to the barn door before throwing over her shoulder. "You'll never lose me, Gina. Never."

At that moment, Regina believes that with every fiber of her being. She knows that no matter what, Emma will be there for her, and Regina will fight until the end of time to get her back, no matter what happens. When Emma gets back, they will start working on their bond, trust, and closeness, but as they've already realized they're drawn to each other, which fills Regina with even more hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know if you enjoyed!


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